Mira Ahmad (Serbia/Canada)

Mira graduated from the University of Ottawa with a BA in History and Life Science. While at uOttawa, Mira had the opportunity to work as a research assistant, take on the role of co-Director of the Clio, uOttawa’s undergraduate journal of history, organise an undergraduate conference, create a website about mining wives in 20th century Canada and hold executive positions in a charitable student organisation. Mira is fluent in Arabic and French and hopes that her fellow Ertegun Scholars will assist her in adding other languages to her repertoire!

Mira’s main research interests lie in the field of British imperial history, particularly the ideologies that underpinned and justified imperial expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries. While at Oxford, Mira hopes to further her understanding of concepts such as Liberal Imperialism, particularly in the Central Asian context. She is also interested in the geopolitics at the interface of the Russian and British Empires in the mid-19th century. She hopes that her research will allow her to learn more about the Great Game narrative, debunking (or confirming!) current understandings of empire, ideology, and competition. Mira is looking forward to collaborating with fellow Ertegun Scholars to integrate non-Western perspectives into her research, as well as develop a greater understanding of the archaeological and literary dimensions of the British in Central Asia.